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Event on 7/27/04 in Berkeley
The newly designated UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau was introduced to the campus community today by UC President Robert C. Dynes and outgoing UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert M. Berdahl in the Doe Library on the Cal campus. Birgeneau has been the president of the University of Toronto and becomes the ninth chancellor at UC Berkeley. Chris Stewart / The Chronicle MANDATORY CREDIT FOR PHOTOG AND SF CHRONICLE/ -MAGS OUT

Photo: Chris Stewart

ucberkeley28176_cs.jpg
Event on 7/27/04 in Berkeley
The newly...

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M.R.C. Greenwood M.R.C. Greenwood, a former Clinton adviser, will receive a $380,000 salary. M.R.C. Greenwood, a former Clinton adviser, will receive a $380,000 salary.

Photo: H.o.

M.R.C. Greenwood M.R.C. Greenwood, a former Clinton adviser, will...

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FOX/C/29SEP99/MN/HO NC State chancellor Marye Anne Fox.

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FOX/C/29SEP99/MN/HO NC State chancellor Marye Anne Fox.

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Senior VP for Business and Finance Joe Mullinix

Photo: Handout

Senior VP for Business and Finance Joe Mullinix

CALIFORNIA / UC looks to donors to help pay executives / With state funds tight, regents to consider way to boost salaries

In their most sweeping salary proposal in recent memory, University of California officials want to tap private donors to boost the salaries of their highest-paid executives -- who already make more than $350,000 a year.

Under a new pay increase plan for all of UC's 160,000 employees, 42 executive positions from the UC president to campus chancellors and deans of the business, law and engineering schools could be eligible for support from private donations to cover the cost of any salary above $350,000.

The proposal will be presented to the UC Board of Regents' finance committee Thursday. It could be voted on by the full board in November.

UC officials insist that its employees, especially executives, are underpaid -- a fact that comes into play when competing with private universities for top administrators.

"I've been through so many searches for chancellors and other people that are just frustrating because we are so far off comparability with our competition, especially privates," said Regent Judith Hopkinson. "The state resources are challenging, and it is going to be hard to get a lot more (funding) out of the state."

UC President Robert Dynes said the private salary donations would be money that might not otherwise be given to UC.

"There are some donors who come to me and say that it is absolutely vital that we find a chancellor who is truly a leader, and they want me to find the best in the country," Dynes said. "They say you should not have to worry about what that person is paid."

The practice of using private money to augment the salaries of top public university officials is not new and is used by public university systems from Virginia to Texas. But the idea of the nation's most prestigious public university system joining in surprised some education experts and was not universally embraced as a good idea.

"The University of California is a public institution, so they shouldn't be receiving private funds for salaries for public officials because they can't be accountable for students and families in California," said Anu Joshi, a UC Berkeley graduate students and president of the systemwide UC Student Association. "Students are wondering why UC is so concerned about UC senior salaries when California families and California students aren't able to afford a UC education."

"It is sort of done on the theory that boards of trustees don't feel they will be held publicly accountable for massive salary increases if they can raise the money privately," Callan said. "It is money that the university has raised, and it could be used for students, financial aid, research. The notion that this is not really public money... isn't right."

The proposal for private donors also rankled some professors.

"It is the faculty who teach students, and it is the faculty who do research," said UC Santa Cruz Professor George Blumenthal, the immediate past president of the UC systemwide faculty Academic Council. "I would question why it should be that we should spend our resources raising money for senior management salaries."

The overall proposal is a $2.5 billion comprehensive plan to raise salaries to reach "market parity" during the next 10 years for all of the university's employees -- from clerks and janitors to the system president.

It was developed by an advisory group that included the chair of the Board of Regents, Gerald Parsky, and Regents Judith Hopkinson, George Marcus and Joanne Kozberg. Dynes, Provost and Senior Vice President M.R.C. Greenwood and Senior Vice President Joseph Mullinix participated in the meetings. Those three are among the seven executives who UC says already earn $350,000 or more and would qualify this year to have a portion of their salary paid with private donations.

In some cases, the salary reported by UC is deceptive because it does not include bonuses or expense accounts. For instance, UC reported to the IRS this year that Mullinix received pay of $405,103.42, a discrepancy that may be explained by bonuses. His pay was raised in 2003 from $291,900.

Specific proposals for salary increases will be developed in October through a review of individual positions. UC officials say that it is vital that they be able to raise employee salaries because a recently commissioned consultant report found that they lag the market in salaries from 10 to 20 percent in various categories and that it is making recruiting the top people difficult.

When the overall compensation is considered, including retirement and health and welfare benefits, studies show UC is competitive with other similar universities. But the proposal warns that will change with rising health care costs and an expectation that employees will have to start contributing to their retirement plan in the next few years.